Pension Credit

davidwm

Looking for advice/info on whether we would be eligible to claim Pension Credit.

My wife is 69 years old and I am 62 years old. My wife has been receiving her pension from age 60.

I suffered a work related stress breakdown and have been hospitalised on three separate occasions since then.

I was being paid Incapacity Benefit and this was then switched to Employment Support Allowance. I was put into the Work Activity Group and was told to attend the job centre. I appealed against this and with the help of the Disability Advice Centre and supporting letters from my GP and psychiatrist the appeal was accepted and I was put into the support group.

This will be up for review in Nov this year. I'm already getting very stressed about having to go through all this aggro again so my question is this.

If I stop claiming ESA would my wife be able to claim pension credit for us both. (Obviously we would have to meet the financial criteria)????

Any advice/suggestions would be gratefully received.

lld01

Yes, you can. ESA often advise this if you meet the age criteria.
Depending on your date of birth, you might not be old enough to claim, but your wife can claim with you as a partner.
If you give PC a call (0800 99 1234) they can do a quick calculation for you based on your joint income (they might not be able to take the claim until the ESA is closed down, however).

tinkledom

davidwm wrote: »

Looking for advice/info on whether we would be eligible to claim Pension Credit.

My wife is 69 years old and I am 62 years old. My wife has been receiving her pension from age 60.

I suffered a work related stress breakdown and have been hospitalised on three separate occasions since then.

I was being paid Incapacity Benefit and this was then switched to Employment Support Allowance. I was put into the Work Activity Group and was told to attend the job centre. I appealed against this and with the help of the Disability Advice Centre and supporting letters from my GP and psychiatrist the appeal was accepted and I was put into the support group.

This will be up for review in Nov this year. I'm already getting very stressed about having to go through all this aggro again so my question is this.

If I stop claiming ESA would my wife be able to claim pension credit for us both. (Obviously we would have to meet the financial criteria)????

Any advice/suggestions would be gratefully received.

I have no idea it was when you first started to claim IB, but certainly for the last 9 years you, as a couple, was entitled to claim Pension Credit instead of IB and ESA.

xylophone

Looking for advice/info on whether we would be eligible to claim Pension Credit.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/184967/DWP027_042013_WEB.pdf

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS48_Pension_Credit_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

tinkledom

Lancashirehotpot wrote: »

Thank you xylophone for those very useful links. I don't wish to hijack this thread but I have a quick question.

Does anybody know if and when the future changes will happen regarding working age claimants. At present the older partner claims Pension Credit and it looks to be about to change to the younger partner claiming Universal Credit.

When UC eventually comes into being.


Eventually PC will only be available to those that are BOTH over pensionable age. If one is and the other isn't, then they will BOTH have to claim UC.


It stops those people who really should be claiming ESA or JSA jumping on the Pension Credit bandwagon in order to avoid signing on or having to have fitness assessments.

epitome

tinkledom wrote: »

When UC eventually comes into being.


Eventually PC will only be available to those that are BOTH over pensionable age. If one is and the other isn't, then they will BOTH have to claim UC.


It stops those people who really should be claiming ESA or JSA jumping on the Pension Credit bandwagon in order to avoid signing on or having to have fitness assessments.

The government's logic is flawed

There is no difference to the current PC situation compared with the current other benefits:

Couple with children, one claims JSA, the partner does not have to claim JSA & look for work because there are children under 16/18 in the household --- CRAZY

Pregnant mum can claim Income Support and she claims for her partner who does not have to look for work....CRAZY

ESA claimant claims for their partner who is fit and healthy and the partner does not have to claim JSA and look for work.... CRAZY

PC claimant can claim for their partner who is fit for work ... CRAZY

Income Support claimant on the basis of Carers Allowance can claim for their partner who is fit for work...CRAZY.

I hope Universal Credit will deal effectively with ALL of these currently crazy situations.


By the way, If anyone is looking at this thread for the OP question on ESA to PC, you will find the following thread much more informative
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4989288